Seam pressing machine



Dec. 1, 1931. G. BOULTON SEAM PRESSING MACHINE Filed Junej 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 76 Fig.1.

Dec. 1, 1931. G. BOULTON SEAM PRESSING MACHINE Filed June 1. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 1, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT 7 OFFICE GEORGE IBOULTON, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, 01' ?ATE.'B8ON', NEW JERSEY, A OORPOBATION' NEW JERSEY SEAR P3358111 G MACHINE Application filed June 1,

This invention relates to seam pressing machines and is herein illustrated as embodied in a seam ironing machine of the ty 0 disclosed in United States Letters Patent 0.

5 1,342,417, granted June 8, 1930, upon application of Boulton and Gorsuch.

In the machine shown in the Letters Paten referred to a plow Kieldingly mounted above a stationary wor supporting saddle 1s adapted to open a seam in a piece of work, and a heated pressing member or ironing block is arranged to cooperate with a powerdriven work supporting feed roll to press and iron the seam after it has been opened by the plow. In the operation of this machine one end of a piece of work is fed manually until it has passed beyond the plow and has advanced at least some distance between the ironing block and the' feed roll, after which the feed roll functions to continue the feed of the work under power.

In accordance with one feature of the present invention, the illustrated machine is provided with means for cooperating with a 535 work support, a feed roll as herein embodied, at a point between a plow and a seam pressing member or ironing block to facilitate the feeding of the work. As herein shown, this means consists of a yieldingly mounted roller presser foot comprising two idle rollers having beveled peripheries arranged to co-operate with beveled peripheral faces at opposite sides of that portion of the periphery of the work supporting feed roll which cooperates with the ironing block. This roller presser foot relieves the operator of the necessity of continuing the feed of the work manually after it leaves the plow while still permitting the operator manually to control the presentation of the leading end of the seam to the plow. The roller presser foot is so mounted that it may readily be removed to adapt the machine for operation upon certain classes of work where it may be found desirable to prolong the period during which the feed of the work is manually effected, and consequently advantageous to dispense with the presser foot.

Among the many classes of work for which machines of the type above referred to are 1927. Serial No. 195,702.

adapted is the pressing of seams of cloth caps seam is pressed progressively toward the center of the cap and often it is desirable to stop the feed when the center of the cap reachesthe pressing member and to remove the work by backing it out from beneath the pressing member.

- In view of the foregoing, and in accordance with another'feature of the present invention, provision is made in the illustrated machine for facilitating the removal or backing out of the work from the machine in the manner above referred to without opening up the pressed seam or disturbing it in any way. To this end, as illustrated, means is constructed and arranged to be actuated by the pressing member or ironing block as the latter 1S retracted from cooperative relation with the work supporting roll to retract seam guiding fingers so that they will not have any tendency to open up or disturb the seam. As shown, this means comprises an extension protruding from the plow into the path of movement of the ironing block. The arrangement, therefore, is such that the plow as well as the seam guidin fingers is retracted, thus still further facllitating the removal of the work from the machine.

When a roller presser foot, such as that above referred to, is employed to co-operate with a work supporting roll in the feeding of the work it is desirable, in order to enable the work to be backed out as above described, and sometimes also in order to facilitate the introduction of the work or the tem porary stopping of the feed, that provision should be made for retractin the resser foot when the ironing block an the p ow are retracted. Accordingly, a still further feature of the invention consists in the provision of means for utilizing the retracting movement of the ironing block to retract also the presser foot as well as the seam guiding fingers and the plow.

.The invention further comprises an improved ironing block especially adapted for operation upon double-stitched seams, an improved means for supporting the portion of the work which is being acted upon by the plow, such means being constituted in the illustrated embodiment of the invention by a stationary Work rest designed particularly to adapt the machine for operating upon the seams of caps. It is customary in the opera tion of seam pressing machines to impart a slight tension to the work transversely of the seam to insure .that wrinkles will not be pressed into the material in the vicinity of the seam. In accordance with the above, another feature of the invention comprises a work rest having work supporting surfaces which slope downwardly at either side of the seam pressing means and a rib to facilitate guiding the work to the pressing means. As a result of such a construction the operators hands, usually placed on the work at each side of the pressing means to guide the work and supported in the illustrated machine on the sloping sides of the work rest, tend to slide downwardly and hence tension the work sufliciently transversely of the seam to remove whatever wrinkles might otherwise remain and become impressed in the work by the operation of the pressing means.

Other novel features and combinations of parts will now be set forth in the following description and defined in the appended claims.

The invention will be explained with referenoe to the accompanying drawings, in which, Fig. 1 is afragmentary View, partially in elevation and partially in section, of a machine embodying the features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail view, in front elevation and on an enlarged scale, of certain of the operating parts of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a detailed elevational view of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 2, illustrating particularly the manner which the parts operate upon the work;

Fig. 4 is a perspective View showing a double-stitched seam asit appears when being presented to the action of the plow;

Fig. 5 is a detailed view, partially in section on the line VV of Fig. 7, illustrating the mode of operation of the ironing block upon a double-stitched seam;

Fig. 6 is a perspective View further illustrating the co-action of the ironing block and the work supporting roll upon a doublestitched seam;

Fig. 7 is an end elevational View, on an en larged scale, of the operating parts shown in Fig. 1, and

Figs. 8 and 9 are plan and side elevational views, respectively, of a stationary work rest particularly adapting the machine for cap work.

The seam pressing machine shown in the drawings is provided with a work-supporting feed roll 12, a stationary work rest 14- which is arranged to cover portions of the feed roll and to support the work as it is being presented to the machine, a seam-o ening plow 16, a pair of scam guiding members 18, 18, and a heated presser member or ironing block 20. The feed roll is driven from a pulley shaft (not shown) through connections including intermeshing bevel gears 22 (Fig. '1). The plow 16 is carried by a vertical rod 24 which is slidable in guideways formed in lugs 26. 28 projecting from the frame of the machine. A spring 30, surrounding the rod 24 between the lug 26 and a collar 32 fixed on the rod, urges the plow downwardly and tends to hold it in a position determined by an adjusting nut 36 arramged to engage the lug 26 and held in place by means of a check nut 38. The seam guiding members 1.8, 18 comprise thin resilient fingers the upper ends of which are fixedly secured to the upper portion of the plow 16. The lower ends of the seam guiding fingers are turned inwardly and shaped to engage the seam margins throughout only relatively small portions of the widths of the mar,- gins so as not to retard the feed of the work. The fingers 18 are adapted to be independently adjusted inwardly and outwardly by means of adjusting screws 40, 40 which are threaded through the fingers and engage opposite sides of the plow. Friction springs 42, 42 surrounding the shanks of the adjusting screws 40 and arranged to bear against the heads thereof serve to maintain the screws in adjusted position.

The ironing block 20 is secured to a carrier 44 which is urged toward the feed roll by means of a spring 46 and the carrier is supported for yielding sliding movement against the force. of the spring by means of adjustable guide plates 48, 48 and a guide block 50 which is pivoted to the frame of the machine and is received in a slot 52 in the ironing block carrier 44. The approach of the ironing block relatively to the feed roll 12 is limited by a screw 54 which extends through the coils of the spring 46 and is threaded through a portion of the carrier 44, the inner end of the screw bearing against the pivoted guide block 50. A screw 55 backs up the spring 46 and may be turned to vary its tension. The ironing block 20 is adapted to be moved away from the feed roll to facilitate either the insertion or removal of the work, or for the purpose of stopping the feed of the work, by means of an arm 56 fast on a rockshaft 58 and extending into a recess in the carrier 44. The rockshaft 58 is connected by means of an arm 60 and a rod 62 with a foot treadle (not shown) by means of which the arm 56 may be operated to raise or lower the ironing block.

Except in certain respects hereinafter specifically pointed out, the construction and block, this arrangement rendering it unnecessar for the operator to continue the manual eed of the work after the work has passed beyond the plow, thus effecting a substantial saving of time, particularly when operating upon work having short seams.

The presser foot 66 (Figs. 2 and 7) comprises a yoke-shaped member having rearwardly curved arms arranged to straddle the low and the seam guiding fingers and carrymg at the lower end of each of its arms a freely rotatable roller 68. The peripheries of the rollers 68 are beveled and knurled, as shown, to engage correspondingly beveled and knurled faces 7 O, 70 at opposite sides of the feed roll 12. The presser foot 66 is secured to the lower end of a vertical rod 72 mounted for yielding sliding movement in ideways formed one in an extension of the lug 26 and the other in a lug 74 and the presser foot 66 is'urged downwardly and adapted to be held in yielding engagement with the work by means of a spring 7 6. en circling the rod 72 between the lug 26 and a collar (8 adjustably fixed on the rod. 1A nut 80 threaded on the upper end of the rod 72 and adapted to be held in position by a check nut 82 is arranged to engage the lug 26 to limit the downward movement of the presser foot when the latter is raised, as will e hereinafter described. By unscrewing the nuts 80 and 82 the presser foot may be'removed from the machine in case it is desired to adapt the machine for operation upon certain classes of work in which the supplementary feeding action, caused by the presser foot when it is arranged to urge the work against the feed roll 12, is not advantageous.

In the illustrated machine, for the purpose of raising the seam guiding fingers and the plow so as to facilitate the backing of the work out of the machine, connections between the plow and the ironing tool 20 are provided in the form of an arm 84 (Fig. 7) projecting rearwardly from the upper portion of the plow and carrying an adjustable abutment screw 86 held in position by means of a check nut 88 and adapted to be engaged by a shoulder 90 on the ironing block when the latter is raised by the operator. By

7 means of the above-described connections upward movement of the ironing block is transmitted to the plow, and to the seam' guiding fingers which are carried by the plow, thus raising both the plow and t e fingers out of the path of the seam; The screw 86 may be adjusted to vary the extent to which the plow and the seam uiding fin ers will be raised or to enable t e ironing lock to be raised without also raising the plow and theseam guiding fingers.

When the above-described roller press er foot is employed it is desirable that means he provided for lifting it out of cooperative relation with the feed roll 12 to facilitate removal of the work by of the machine.

To this end, as best shown in Fig. 7, a pin backingthe work out 92 projects from the collar 7 8 and overlies the collar 32 on the rod 24 which carries the plow. lVith this arrangement, when the rod 24 is moved to raise the plow and seam guiding fingers the movement of therod 24 is transmitted to the rod 72, thus causing the presser foot to be raised also.

To facilitate o crating upon certain classes of work, particu arlywork having a doublestitched seam, suchas that shown in Figs.

3 and 4, in order to insurethatthe outer edges of the margins united by thesea'm willbe properly pressed and in order to provide for} the application of a more uniform ressure throughout the entire width of eac ,Q'of the seam margins, the seam ironin block 20 is herein shown (see Figs. 5 and 6- 'as being reccssed at 94 so as to relieve the ironing pressure somewhat immediately over the line'of stitchingi As a result of thus recessing the ironing tool not only 1s there insured a more uniform appllcation of pressure upon the seam margins but the ironin block has prac-' tlcally no tendency to brea the outermost stitches of the seam.

The stationary work rest 14 of the illustrated machine is especially designed to adapt the machine for operating upon the seams of caps. For this purpose, the rest 14, as shown in Figs. 1, 8 and 9, is of a generally semispherical outside contour, particularly adapted to extend within and support a substan- I tial portion of the inside of a cap so that after completing the pressing of any of its seams the cap may be more readily turned to position another seam to be operated upon. As shown, the spherical work rest 14 is formed with a web portion 96 adapted to be secured by screws such as 97 (Fig. 1) to the frame of the machine. The rest 14 is cut away as indicated at 98 to avoid interference with the roller presser foot. [in 100 upon the upper surface of the rest 14 is arranged immediately beneath the plow and is arranged to enter the crease of the seam upon the display side of the work to facilitate the guiding of the seam. Not only does the above-described improved work rest 14 facilitate the presentation of the work to the op.- erating tools as above described, but it also An upstanding rib or enables an operator the better to control the seam as it is being passed through the machine. The improved rest also has the advantage of covering the feed wheel in such a manner as toeliminate any danger of oil or grease from the feed roll bearings reachirig the Work.

In operation the work is placed, display side down, on the work rest 14 so that the rib 100 enters the creaseof the seam and the upstanding margins of the seam are directed between the inturncd lower ends of the seamguiding fingers 18. As the work is manually fed over the work rest the plow 16 functions, as in the machine disclosed in the Letters Patent above mentioned, to .open the seam and to lay the seam margins over against the surface of the work in position to be ironed flat by the ironing block 20. Before reaching the ironing block, however, and immediately after passing beyond the plow the work passes between the presser foot 66 and the beveled faces of the feed roll 12 and. is fed under power to the ironing block. Inasmuch as the roller presser foot is so positioned as to be efi'eetive at a point between the plow and the ironing block, its action in no way interferes with the manual control of the work as the seam is directed between the seam guiding fingers and is entered beneath the plow, but the presser foot functions as soon as the seam has left the pl ow, and before the seam has traversed the clearance space between the plow and the ironing block, to feed the work forwardly under power, thus relieving the operator of the necessity of continuing the feed of the work manually until it has advanced a substantial distance beneath-the ironing block. Although the distance through which the work is fed solely by the cooperation of the roller presser foot and the feed roll is not very great, it is nevertheless a very substantial portion'of the full distance traveled by the work when short seams are being operated upon. Consquently, it will be appreciated that a very substantial saving in time is effected as a result of the provision of the presser foot. Furthermore, the provision of two presser rolls on the presser foot arranged as herein described insures that the work will be fed uniformly at both sides of the seam and thus maintained automatically in a straight path. The operator is thus practically relieved of the necessity of manually guiding the work after it has passed the presser foot and danger of stretching the seam in the act of manually guiding it is eliminated. As the seam passes beneath the ironing block the depression 94 receives the bulge of the seam along the line of stitching, relieving the pressure at this point sufliciently to insure that the edges of the seam margins will be properly pressed. If the work being operated upon is a cap the spherical shape of the work support 14.- facilitates manipulation of the cap after each seam thereof has been pressed so that the cap may be repositioned for the pressing of the next seam with a minimum amount of effort. As hereinbefore mentioned, the roller presser foot may be readily removed if its use is not desired when operating upon the seams of caps. If for any-reason it is desirable to back the work out of the machine after a seam has been ironed, the operator through the treadle connections herein described may not only raise the ironing block but he may also, and by the same operation raise the seam guiding fingers, the plow and the presser foot thus releasing the work so that its removal may be readily and easily accomplished.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a seam pressing machine, a work supporting feed roll, a seam opening plow, a seam pressing member arranged to cooperatewith the feed roll in the pressing of a seam, and yielding means for cooperating with the feed roll at a point between the plow and the pressing member to; facilitate the feed of the work.

2. In a seam pressing machine, a work supporting feed roll, a seam opening plow, a seam pressing member arranged to cooperate with the feed roll in the pressing of a seam, and a yieldable roller presser foot arranged to cooperate with the fed roll between the plow and the presser member to feed the work beneath the presser member.

3. In a seam pressing machine, a work support, apresser foot arranged to cooperate with the support to feed the work, a slidable seam pressing member yieldingly urged toward the work-support, a seam opening plow, means for guiding a seam to the plow, and means carried by the plow and projecting into the path of movement of the seam pressing member for transmitting the movement of the seam pressing member to the plow and seam guiding means.

4. In a seam pressing machine, a work sup porting feed roll, a seam pressing member movable toward and from position to 00-01)- erate with the feed roll to press a seam, a seam opening plow capable of being retracted from operative position, seam guiding fingers connected with the plow, a roller presser foot for c0-operating with the feed roll in the feeding of the work, and means controlled by a single operating memberfor retracting the seam pressing member, the plow, the seam guiding means, and the presser foot.

5. In a seam pressing machine, a work supporting feed roll, a seam pressing member movable toward and from position to co-operate with the feed roll to press a seam, a seam opening plow capable of being retracted from operative position, seam guiding fingers connected with the plow, a roller presser ber is retracted.

raised and lowered,-a presser 6. In a seam ironing machine, a work supporting and feeding roll, a presser foot arranged to cooperate therewith to assist in feeding the work, a heatedironing block provided with a curved work contacting face disposed adjacent to the work supporting roll for a considerable portion of the periphery thereof, a treadle operated member, connections between said member and the ironing block for causing the latter to be retracted from operative relation to the work supporting roll, a seam opening low capable of being raised-and lowered, an means connect-- ed with the plow and extendin into the path of movement of the ironing lock whereby the plow is raised when the ironing. block is retracted.

7. In a seam pressing machine, a seam pressing member, a roller presser foot, a work supporting roll with which the seam pressing member and the presser foot'co-operate to feed the work, and operator-controlled means-for retractingboth the seam pressing member and the presser foot from the work supporting roll.

8. In a seam pressing machine, a seam pressing member, a roller presser foot, awork supporting roll with which the seam pressing member and the presser foot co-operate to feed the work, a seam opening plow arranged above the work supporting roll, and means for retracting both the seam pressing member and the presser foot from the work supporting roll and for raising the plow.

9. In a seam pressing machine, a stationary work rest, a seam. opening plow arranged above the rest, means for guidin the seam to the plow, a work sup orting eed roll, a

presser member arrange .to co-operate wlth the' feed roll to press and feed the work, and means guiding device from the rest and for simultaneously retracting the seam pressing member from the feed ,roll/ 10. In a seam pressing machine, a worksupporting feed roll, a seam pressing member movable toward and from the feed. roll, a work suplporting saddle, a seam openin -plow located a ove the'saddle and capable o bein oot arrange to co-operate with the feed roll at a point between the plow and the pressing member to feed. the work to the latter, means connected with the plow arranged to be actuated by the seam pressing member to raise the plow when said member is retracted, and means in the path of movement of the plow and carried ing a for retracting the plow and the seam wardly sloping work engaging surfaces disposed one at either side of the seam ressing means, and a rib on said rest to facilitate the guidin of the work by contact with the seam.

12. n a seam pressing machine, seam pressing means, means for supporting the work in operative relation to the pressing means andfor cooperating with the pressing means to feed the work, a work rest having a surface sloping downwardly in all directions from the seam pressing means, and a rib on said rest to facilitate the guiding of the work by cont-act with the seam.

13. In a seam pressing machine, seam pressing means, means for supporting work in operative relation to the seam pressing means and cooperating therewith to feed the work, and a stationary work rest having a curved surface sloping downwardly at either side of the seam pressing means.

14. In a seampressmg machine seam openmg and pressmg means, means for supportpiece of work to position a seam in operative relation to the opening and pressing means, and a stationary work rest arranged to expose a portion of the work supporting means adjacent to the seam opening and pressing means, the work engaging surface of said work rest being convexly curved and sloping downwardly in all directions from the seam pressing means.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE BOULTON. 

